Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Luke 10: 38-42

Jesus entered a village 
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. 
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? 
Tell her to help me.” 
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. 
There is need of only one thing. 
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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I’m so glad that Martha lost her cool.

Her frustration allows us to learn a timeless lesson in discipleship.

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We can imagine the scene.

Perhaps Martha was moving around the kitchen for an hour or two, banging pots and pans, cutting vegetables while mumbling under her breath. 

Finally, she storms into the dining room to confront her sister, Mary, who’s listening attentively to Jesus.

Interrupting their conversation, Martha bursts out, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?”

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Martha just made several mistakes.

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First, she accuses the Lord of not caring about her burdens. “Lord, do you not care?”

The disciples say the same thing to Jesus while caught in the middle of a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Waking Jesus up, who was asleep on a cushion, they holler at him, “Lord, do you not care that we’re drowning??”

After accusing the Lord of not caring about her, Martha then blames someone else for causing her anxiety. It’s Mary’s fault! “My sister has left me by myself to do the serving!”

Then Martha polishes off this cocktail of complaints by telling Jesus exactly how to solve her problems. “Lord, tell her to help me!”

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Have we ever sounded like Martha? Have we ever complained to Jesus, accusing him of not caring about us? Have we told him how to solve our problems?

What might Martha have done differently? What is the cause of her anxiety, and at times our own?

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She lost her focus. At least today, she’s motivated more by duty than by love.

“Martha, Martha,” Jesus says. “You are anxious and worried about many things.” Her focus is off; she’s distracted by mundane chores.

The root of the word “worry” means, “to strangle.” To be “distracted” means, “to drag apart or to separate something that should be whole.”

Martha has separated her love of the Lord from her work. In that kitchen, she sees a mess: water boiling on the stove; vegetables half cut on the counter; flour on the floor; an absentee sister; and a whole lot of “work” to be done. 

What she could’ve seen was the Lord’s face behind that boiling water; his empty stomach filled with those vegetables; his impending gratitude for a meal well served.

But Jesus wasn’t the focus of her labor; she was.

“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?”

Me, me, me.

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At times, we can feel the same way. 

Think about how quickly attending another sports event for your child can feel like another “thing to do,” another demand placed on your time.

Or maybe you do more housework than other members of your family; you tote the kids around town; you do more dishes.

Or maybe you care for an ailing spouse or parent. Another day of phone calls, doctor visits, and pharmacy runs can feel like an imposition on our freedom.

If we focus solely on the tasks that we’re doing – driving, cleaning, childcare – then naturally we can end up tired and frustrated when our focus turns to “me,” instead of to Christ.

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The same is true in prayer. If we spend an hour thinking, then we’ll end up exhausted. We just run around in circles in our head, because the focus is on “me.”

But if we spend an hour sharing our heart with the Lord – even if our circumstances in life haven’t changed – then we can feel a deeper sense of peace, knowing the Lord has heard us.

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“You are anxious and worried about many things.”

In the midst of an often full and crazy schedule, what blessings in my life have begun feeling like burdens? Like Martha, where do I need to re-focus my attention on Christ?

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“Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her,” Jesus says.

The better part isn’t necessarily prayer; it’s recognizing Christ behind whatever we do.

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Image credits: (1) Cross Encounters Ministries (2) Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Vermeer (3) St. Bede, Twitter

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Matthew 12: 1-8

Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,
“See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”
He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?

Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Some say America’s legal system has a few backward, or inconvenient, laws that need to be updated. In particular, certain laws that restrict work and commerce on Sundays.

For example, on a Sunday in New Jersey it’s illegal to purchase a car. In Massachusetts, it’s illegal to hunt. In many states, it’s illegal to purchase alcohol before noon.

These laws are known as “blue laws,” which were originally written to protect the Sabbath, allowing all Americans to attend church.

But these days, only one-third of Americans find themselves in a church pew on Sunday morning. Many are too busy attending sports games, running errands, cleaning the house, or sleeping in.

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But this idea of “blue laws,” which may seem ridiculous to us today, reminds us of the importance of time, the importance of rest, and the importance of worshiping God.

In this context, we can see why the Pharisees are so angry in today’s Gospel. They interpret the disciples’ actions to be contrary to the Sabbath, much like a person trying to illegally purchase a car or go hunting on a Sunday.

While the Pharisees are overly legalistic, they never conclude a week without acknowledging the Lord.

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Perhaps there’s a word in that for us.

Many of us lead very busy lives; time passes quickly. But can we take a moment at the beginning of each day to acknowledge the Lord?

This is why I post the “God minute” daily; not only remind myself to pray, but also to encourage others to do the same. 

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While “blue laws” may go out of style, our need to recognize the Lord, especially on Sundays, should never change.

So, when the sun rises on Sunday morning, where will you be?

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Image credits: (1) Wide Open Eats (2) Let’s Talk About Sunday, WordPress (3) The Stylus, WordPress

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Isaiah 26: 7-19

The way of the just is smooth;
the path of the just you make level.
Yes, for your way and your judgments, O LORD,
we look to you;
Your name and your title
are the desire of our souls.
My soul yearns for you in the night,
yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you;
When your judgment dawns upon the earth,
the world’s inhabitants learn justice.
O LORD, you mete out peace to us,
for it is you who have accomplished all we have done.

O LORD, oppressed by your punishment,
we cried out in anguish under your chastising.
As a woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pains,
so were we in your presence, O LORD.
We conceived and writhed in pain,
giving birth to wind;
Salvation we have not achieved for the earth,
the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth.
But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise;
awake and sing, you who lie in the dust.
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the land of shades gives birth.

The Word of the Lord.

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“My soul years for you in the night.”

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These are some of the most beautiful words written in the Bible on the spiritual life.

In this single sentence, the prophet Isaiah expresses a deep awareness of himself and his faith in God.

“My soul,” he says. Isaiah believes that he’s more than flesh and bones; he’s more than a mortal being; he’s more than the dust of the earth. 

Isaiah has a soul – an identity – that was created by God and will be redeemed by God. His soul is his innermost room; his connection to the Divine.

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And not only this. But his soul years for God “in the night.”

The “night” is directionless. It implies absence; darkness; a soul’s separation from God. Other Saints like John of the Cross and Mother Teresa have written extensively about it.

Isaiah feels this separation. But he doesn’t give up; in spite of the dryness, he “keeps vigil,” waiting for the Lord’s return.

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So, what might Isaiah say to us today?

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There are times when God seems absent to us. Whether our soul is dimmed by grief, doubt, or temptation, we can feel distant from the Lord.

But these are the moments when we really have to hang on. Desiring the Lord – especially when it feels like he’s disappeared from us – only strengthens our faith.

As Saint Paul tells us, “suffering produces endurance, and endurance proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:3-5).

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Image credits: (1) Katolikong Pinoy (2) Quora (3) Becky Crenshaw